Coffee Ice Cream

Now, just a little fact about myself, I don't like coffee.  I don't like it hot or cold and there are very few coffee-flavored foods that I enjoy eating.  My husband, on the other hand, LOVES coffee.  He drinks it every day, sometimes several times a day.  And his favorite kind of ice cream is coffee ice cream. 

Anyway, today we stopped by Costco to pick up The Pioneer Woman's new cookbook (it was on sale of $16)!!  On our way home I went page-by-page through it admiring all the beautiful pictures and yummy recipes.  One in particular caught Patrick's eye... Pioneer Woman's coffee ice cream.  Well this posed quite a challenge for me.  1)  We try to avoid refined sugar and almost every ice cream recipe calls for an abundance of sugar.  2)  I don't like coffee-flavored stuff.  But, out of love for my dear hubby, I decided to give it a shot. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure PW's ice cream recipe is probably fantastic but I really didn't want to make it 'cause of the sugar.  So here's what I came up with.  It's a combination of several recipes and it turned out amazing.  I LOVED it!  And I even impressed myself (which I don't do very often).   So this just had to be the first recipe I posted on my new and improved blog!  Give it a shot... I promise you won't regret it!

Coffee Ice Cream
(Click to print the recipe)

2 c. half and half
2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. raw honey
2 T. vanilla
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat-free and it turned out just fine)
3-4 T. instant coffee

Mix the half and half, whipping cream, honey, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk in a mixer at high speed until slightly frothy.  Add coffee.  (To be honest, I probably added more like 4 1/2-5 T.)  Pour through a fine mess strainer into the ice cream maker container.  Put into the ice cream maker and freeze according to the ice cream maker's directions. 

Once frozen, remove from ice cream maker and store in a freezer safe container.  It is delicious as soft serve ice cream or you can freeze it to make it more firm. 

(Next time I'll take pictures.  If I remember).  Try it.  It's very, very good!